An Honored Artist of the Russian Federation and an Honored Artist of the Mari ASSR, Yury Belkov (1924–2014) was a veteran of the Great Patriotic War and author of a number of essays on Mari artists, and a book of memoirs “Under the Sails of Passing Years”. In 1953, after graduating from the Ivanovo Art School, he came to Yoshkar-Ola and joined a group of artists of the republic, and participated in all exhibitions. Belkov was one of the organizers of the Mari branch of the Artists’ Union of Russia. As a diligent artist and a public figure, Yury Sergeyevich throughout his life contributed to the development and strengthening of the traditions of realistic art. Belkov was a master of genre paintings, a seascape painter, and portraitist.
The folk wedding ceremony has become one of the favorite subjects in the works of many Mari artists. It has its reasons: it is at the wedding that the Mari people wear the most beautiful clothes and jewelry, sing folk songs and perform folk dances, use folk instruments, and cook Mari dishes. These are the wedding traditions of the Mari village that the artist depicted in the large-scale multi-figure painting “At the Mari Wedding”. He painted it with precision and great attention to ethnographic details.
Men and women in national Mari clothes dance under the window of the house where the celebration is underway. To the right of the group are the figures of musicians playing music for the dancers: the melody is led by a drum and bagpipes. Smiling faces of women, bright scarves decorated with flowers, and young men with ceremonial whips in their hands — everything testifies to a ritual wedding ceremony. The neighbors watch the dancing, in the upper right part of the fence there are other spectators — young boys. The newlyweds have come out on the high porch of the village house. The clothes of the young couple are quite interesting: the bride is depicted in a typical secular wedding dress, but a folk shirt with an embroidered collar is visible under the groom’s jacket. The festive mood is emphasized by a sunny autumn day, we see golden foliage outside the gates of the house. All pictorial means are aimed at creating an atmosphere of kindness and joy, with which the figures and faces of the wedding guests breathe.
The folk wedding ceremony has become one of the favorite subjects in the works of many Mari artists. It has its reasons: it is at the wedding that the Mari people wear the most beautiful clothes and jewelry, sing folk songs and perform folk dances, use folk instruments, and cook Mari dishes. These are the wedding traditions of the Mari village that the artist depicted in the large-scale multi-figure painting “At the Mari Wedding”. He painted it with precision and great attention to ethnographic details.
Men and women in national Mari clothes dance under the window of the house where the celebration is underway. To the right of the group are the figures of musicians playing music for the dancers: the melody is led by a drum and bagpipes. Smiling faces of women, bright scarves decorated with flowers, and young men with ceremonial whips in their hands — everything testifies to a ritual wedding ceremony. The neighbors watch the dancing, in the upper right part of the fence there are other spectators — young boys. The newlyweds have come out on the high porch of the village house. The clothes of the young couple are quite interesting: the bride is depicted in a typical secular wedding dress, but a folk shirt with an embroidered collar is visible under the groom’s jacket. The festive mood is emphasized by a sunny autumn day, we see golden foliage outside the gates of the house. All pictorial means are aimed at creating an atmosphere of kindness and joy, with which the figures and faces of the wedding guests breathe.
